Method of handling coal.



GROVE n. CURTIS, or NEW Yonm 1v. Y.

METHOD OF HANDLING GOAL.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Dec, 29, 1914 Application filed May 18, 1912. Serial no. 698,089,

To all 'wlz om it may concern I Be it known that I, Gnovn D. CURTIS, a citizen of the United States, residing at the borough of Manhattan, in the city of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Method of Handling Goal, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a method of storing and handling coal, and its novelty consists in the successive steps of the method and process employed, as will be more fully hereinafter pointed out.

In the ordinary coal pocket, the coal is brought to the top of the structure, either by aline of cars, a series of derricks,-or other suitable carriers, and dumped into theinterior from which it is withdrawn from the mass at the bottom, or the lower side edge, through appropriate gates, into the wagons by which it is delivered to the consumers;

Theordinary coal pocket as now constructed is in-efi'ect a prismatic box with out let ports along its loweredges. When one of these ports is opened, a flow of coal from the mass within is induced toward, it, and after such flow has continued for a short time it will be noticed that a channel has been formed directly through the mass of coal from its top toward the open outlet port. Furthermore, it will be noticed that the coal does not flow steadily toward the outlet port but falls inwardly into the channel first formed, choking it up at first and then gradually clearing up as the coal .is removed from beneath. This movement of the coal from the mass toward the outlet port is accompanied by a sort of vortex movement resembling the similar movement which takes place in a mass of fluid discharged from a small orifice by gravity. This vortex movement tends to grind the coal and, in my opinion, is largely respon sible for the formation ofdust therein. By dust I mean coal of a size below that of any of the marketable grades so as to have substantially no commercial value. i 1

WVhen pieces of coal fall any distance and strike a hard surface, they are fractured andsplintered and formed into smaller pieces, but they are not ground'to powder and do not form dust. This splintering action is relatively unimportant because the smaller pieces are practically all marketable.

But dust is not marketable and as the dust has been paid for in paying for the weight of coal purchased and, as the owner of the pocket usually does not deliver such dust, he secures I10 reimbursement for such outlay;

Itis, therefore, highly important that the plane of the line 2-2 in Fig. 1 and a top view of the parts beneaththe said section plane. 'The illustrative apparatus herein shown is substantially the same as that disclosed in my copending application Serial No. 472,723.

Thereis represented in the drawing a coal pocket comprising in effect a rectangu:

lar box made of any suitable size and material and which has a bottom 10, upright side walls lland a sloping roof or cover 12. Above the center of the pocket, or elsewhere conveniently arranged, is a railway indicated at 13 on which trucks 14, or'other carriers are adapted to be moved to bring the coal to the pocket. This part of the device is usually protected by a supplemental shed or roof 15. A door 16 is placed 'at any convenient situation toafl'ord access to the lower interior of the pocket for cleansingpurposes or the like. The bottom is usually madesloping I in places as at 17 toward outlet apertures adapted to be closed by suitable gates or valves indicated at 18 and which may slide in a grooved frame indicated at 19, or be supported and guided in any suitable manner. Extending outwardly from the outlet apertures are screen chutes 19 made of woven wire netting or similar foraminous material and provided at their lower "edges with backwardly extending chutes 20 adapted to guide the discharge of the dust and screenings away from the end of the chute 19.

The parts above described form no part of my invention. Arranged in substantially vertical position within-the pocket are conduits having upright walls 21. For the sake of economy" of construction, I prefer-to make these conduits with three sides and to use the side walls 11 of the pocket as the fourth side, but it is obvious that these conduits may have any number of sides and be placed any-- where within the pocket. J

Arranged at suitable intervals along the upright walls '21 are openings 22 adapted to be closed by valves or gates'23 opening inwardly. I prefer to use, and I have shown in the drawing, a simple form of valve consisting of a fiat piece of suitable material, secured to the Wall 21 above the corresponding opening 522 and fastened in place by hinges 240, and which piece is of a size suflicient to overlap the lower edge of the opening 23 and so close it. This form of valve normally closes its opening by gravity and is readily made and put in place.

It will be noted that the openings 22 along the walls are so arranged that those along one wall are staggered with respect to those along the adjacent wall.

At the upper inner edge of each conduit there is arranged a 'shelf 25 sloping-upwardly toward the track 13 and suitably supported by the framework of the pocket (not shown). This shelf terminates in a guide plate or deflector '26 secured thereto by a hinge 27 and so arranged that it can be swung to the position indicated in full lines in Fig. 1 to rest against aportion of the framework 28 and thus prevent access to the shelf 25 and serve as a guide toward the interior of the pocket or, it canbe swung to the position indicated in dotted outline in Fig. 1, to rest against another portion of the framework 29, to permit access to the interior. In the construction shown there are two of these deflectors and when in one position they guide the coal into the conduits and when in the other position they guide the coal into the interior of the pocket.

The conduits are preferably made of such size that the coal can surround them, except, of course, as to that size which is identical with a portion of the side wall of the pocket.

In use, the coal is first dumped into the pocket at the top center, the guide plates 26 being swung inwardly so as to constitute, with the shelves 2'5, chutes to guide the coal into the-conduits which are first filled in order that the coal within them may press against the valves 23 to keep them shut. After the conduits have been filled the hinged guide plates 26 are disengaged and allowedto. swing. outwardly to form a hopper to guide the coal into the-center of "charge gate 18 at the lower end of one of the conduits is then opened. This allows .the coaltobe. drawn off from the lower end in that conduit but on account of its relatively small cross sectional area the channeling or grindingaction of the coal above referred to as taking place in coal drawn by gravity from a mass through an outlet port does not take place, and no vortex is formed in the coal of the column in the conduit and the coal falls gently and evenly and substantially without any other than an intermittent, step by step vertical motion. So long as sufficient coal remains against the inside of one of the valves 23 to keep it shut, this valve prevents any movement of the coal within the pocket (outside of the conduits) resting against such valve, but just as soon as the coal falls below the level of such valve the latter is pushed open by the pressure of the coal in the pocket on the other side of it and a portion of such coal escapes through the valve and falls gently by gravity on top of the segregated column of coal inthe conduit. It suffers no shock or splintering action in such fall because the extent of its descent is so slight. This action continues until practically all of the coal o'f the mass in the pocket above the level of suc'h valve aperture has thus been drawn into I the segregated column. As the coal continues to be drawn from the conduit into the segregated column, the valve at the next lower level is opened and the coal at that level similarly is discharged into the column until, as the operation is continued and the valves are opened one after the other, the pocket practically becomes pty- It will be noted that by the use of the construction shown the column of coal within the conduit i's'separated or segregated from the mass of'coal stored within the pocket, that the coal is drawn from this segregated column at or near its lower end, and that no vortex is formedv or can be formed in the mass of coal as the latter drops into the column but a short distance at any time and has no opportunity to channel or bur- 7 mass, whereby the formation ofdust is pre vented which consists in segregating a column. of eoalfromthe mass; removing the The upper surface of the column is 1,122,577 7 y j r a coal from the lower end of such column and In testimony whereof I aflix my signasupplying coal to the upper end of said co1- ture in presence of two Witnesses.

umn from the surrounding mass by suc- GROVE D. CURTIS. oessively allowing small portions of coal Witnesses:

to move by gravity from the surrounding ALAN O. MoDoNNELL,

mass to the top of the column. EDNA A. MORELAND- Copies of this patent may be obtained'for five tents;- each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. O." 

